The Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Number of Publications in Oncology Journals: A Big Data Analysis

Abstract

Objectives: In this study, we aimed to analyze the publications of journals in the oncology category in the last four years and to investigate the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the number of publications in oncology journals. Methods: Journals published regularly every year, and with SCImago Journal Rank indicator of at least 0.100, were included in this study. A search strategy based on cancer types was created using MeSH, and the number and charac teristics of journals were recorded. Using simple linear regression, the relationship between the change in the number of publications in countries over the years and Covid-19 was investigated. Results: 310 journals and 247,552 publications were evaluated. In 2020, the increase in the total number of publi cations was 18% compared to 2019, 19% compared to 2018, and 16% compared to 2017. When publications were ranked according to cancer types, breast cancer was the most common. When this increase is evaluated with simple linear regression model, 21.4% of the increase compared to 2019 could be explained by the number of Covid-19 cases. (r=0.462,p=0.040). Conclusion: There was an increase in the number of publications in the field of oncology in 2020 due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.